Sigma Alpha Epsilon bans pledging amid lawsuits, deaths

Leaders of the Evanston-based fraternity say change will repair image

March 16, 2014|By John Keilman, Tribune reporter

Brenton Howland pledged the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity at Northwestern University two years ago, and he recalls it as weeks of bonding and deep conversations in which he established some of his closest friendships.

But after SAE's Evanston-based headquarters announced last week that it would no longer allow pledging — a change prompted by deaths, lawsuits and bad publicity — Howland said he agreed with the move.

"This shows people that our national organization is really taking the incidents that happened to heart and is finding ways to mitigate the risks and negatives we've seen come from some SAE chapters," said Howland, now his chapter's president. "It shows parents and administrations and alumni that we're trying to move forward and maintain the values we were founded upon."

The pledge ban has rippled through the Greek world and beyond, with some predicting it will become standard practice among fraternities and sororities. But while Chicago-area SAE members interviewed by the Tribune supported the change, dissent was easy to find online, with some alumni saying on Facebook that they would no longer contribute to the fraternity.

The debate comes as hazing falls under renewed assault from educators and lawyers, and fraternities endure a streak of negative publicity. None has fared worse than SAE, which Bloomberg News, after surveying deaths linked to Greek events, dubbed America's deadliest frat.

SAE national spokesman Brandon Weghorst said the problems come from a small portion of the group's 14,000 undergraduate members and that not all of them took place during pledging, a multiweek process in which aspiring brothers learn the ways of the fraternity.

Weghorst said no singular incident spurred the change. Bradley Cohen, the group's top leader, made clear in a YouTube video announcing the ban that the measure was driven by a compilation of misdeeds.

"As an organization, we have been plagued with too much bad behavior, which has resulted in loss of lives, negative press and large lawsuits," he said. "We have taken our bloodline for the fraternity, our new members, and treated them as second-class citizens.

"We are at a crossroads: Do we continue to operate as we have because some deem it to be tradition, and risk our existence?"

The fraternity's new procedure calls for chapters to initiate candidates as full members within 96 hours of making the offer. The education that once took place during the weeks of pledging is now supposed to be spread over a member's entire college career.

Weghorst said that change should enhance the feeling of brotherhood within the fraternity, instead of fostering cliques from separate pledge classes. It should also prompt chapters to offer membership only to those it believes are worthy, instead of sending out a blizzard of invitations and using the pledge process to weed out the undesirables, he said.

Joe Schaiper, president of the DePaul University chapter, said pledging has never been a cause of trouble for his group, partly because it does not have its own house. Its pledging activities, mostly "information-based," take place in the school's academic center, he said.

He supported the change, though he wasn't sure how well he'd be able to get to know someone before bringing him in as a full member.

"For recruitment, we'll have to get to know these kids in a quicker and shorter time," he said.

Bryan Collins, president of the chapter at Northern Illinois University until he graduated in December, said he didn't think the change would saddle the fraternity with unsuitable members.

"If someone is totally not what your chapter stands for, they don't have to stay," he said. "There's a very clear-cut process for getting rid of people who aren't doing what they need to and aren't representing us well."

Hank Nuwer, a journalism professor at Indiana's Franklin College who has written several books on hazing, called the fraternity's decision "gutsy" and predicted the organization will face years of pushback from members and alumni.

And though SAE says it has a zero-tolerance policy toward hazing, Nuwer said some chapters, unable to do their traditional pledge programs, might try to put prospective members through "merciless" rituals during the shortened time period.

"There are concerns," he said. "But even with those concerns I think it's a good thing."